Groups > comp.arch > #2082

Re: History of byte addressing

From	torbenm@diku.dk (Torben Ægidius Mogensen)
Newsgroups	comp.arch
Subject	Re: History of byte addressing
References	(2 earlier) <isf6kv$16uk$1@gal.iecc.com> <752ee724-f894-4881-b4d3-033b72a7d7d3@u26g2000vby.googlegroups.com> <248b8b45-50f6-4cd6-b98a-2b57629b3390@c26g2000vbq.googlegroups.com> <18608bba-ef46-4abb-9eed-d94089feb2ce@d28g2000yqf.googlegroups.com> <42477501-047c-4e2e-9697-a6275ad39af3@s14g2000vbi.googlegroups.com>
Date	2011-06-07 10:50 +0200
Message-ID	<7z39jmrpoi.fsf@ask.diku.dk> (permalink)
Organization	SunSITE.dk - Supporting Open source

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"Paul A. Clayton" <paaronclayton@gmail.com> writes:

> While on the subject of endian choice, when and why was endian
> nature of bits consistently made little-endian?

As other's have said, it wasn't a universal choice.  But it makes a lot
of sense to number the least significant bit 0 and so on (i.e.,
zero-based little endian), because bit number n then corresponds to 2^n.
That said, binary numbers are typically written in big-endian notation
like any other number.  This is reflected in the use of "shift left" to
mean a bitwise shift towards more significant numbers and conversely for
"shift right".

Since you can walk through memory in any order, in practice it makes
little difference how the bytes are laid out in memory.  Endianness
might matter a bit for serial communication if you want to start
computation before the full number is transferred, but I can't see many
applications where this is important -- communication time vastly
exceeds computation time anyway.

	Torben

Thread

History of byte addressing John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> - 2011-06-02 19:36 +0000
  Re: History of byte addressing nmm1@cam.ac.uk - 2011-06-02 20:38 +0100
    Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-03 08:05 -0700
  Re: History of byte addressing Alex McDonald <blog@rivadpm.com> - 2011-06-03 05:26 -0700
    Re: History of byte addressing Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2011-06-03 09:48 -0400
  Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-03 07:49 -0700
    Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-03 10:56 -0700
  Re: History of byte addressing "Andy \"Krazy\" Glew" <andy@SPAM.comp-arch.net> - 2011-06-04 10:59 -0700
    Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-04 15:01 -0700
      Re: History of byte addressing nmm1@cam.ac.uk - 2011-06-04 22:53 +0100
        Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-05 10:40 -0700
    Re: History of byte addressing John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> - 2011-06-05 06:10 +0000
      Re: History of byte addressing Robert Myers <rbmyersusa@gmail.com> - 2011-06-05 10:00 -0700
        Re: History of byte addressing Robert Myers <rbmyersusa@gmail.com> - 2011-06-05 10:04 -0700
          Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-05 10:36 -0700
            Re: History of byte addressing "Paul A. Clayton" <paaronclayton@gmail.com> - 2011-06-05 11:00 -0700
              Re: History of byte addressing Morten Reistad <first@last.name> - 2011-06-05 21:42 +0200
                Re: History of byte addressing anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2011-06-06 17:03 +0000
                Re: History of byte addressing Andrew Reilly <areilly---@bigpond.net.au> - 2011-06-06 23:55 +0000
                Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-06 18:26 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing Andrew Reilly <areilly---@bigpond.net.au> - 2011-06-07 05:08 +0000
                Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-07 03:26 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing Roberto Waltman <usenet@rwaltman.com> - 2011-07-05 20:00 -0400
                Re: History of byte addressing jsavard@excxn.aNOSPAMb.cdn.invalid (John Savard) - 2011-07-06 00:15 +0000
              Re: History of byte addressing George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2011-06-05 16:18 -0400
              Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-05 22:10 -0700
              Re: History of byte addressing torbenm@diku.dk (Torben Ægidius Mogensen) - 2011-06-07 10:50 +0200
                Re: History of byte addressing "Skybuck Flying" <Windows7IsOK@DreamPC2006.com> - 2011-06-07 16:02 +0200
              Re: History of byte addressing "Skybuck Flying" <Windows7IsOK@DreamPC2006.com> - 2011-06-07 15:51 +0200
            Re: History of byte addressing Louis Krupp <lkrupp@nospam.indra.com.invalid> - 2011-06-05 13:43 -0600
              Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-05 22:12 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing EricP <ThatWouldBeTelling@thevillage.com> - 2011-06-06 02:04 -0400
                Re: History of byte addressing Stephen Fuld <SFuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid> - 2011-06-05 23:49 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing EricP <ThatWouldBeTelling@thevillage.com> - 2011-06-06 13:34 -0400
                Re: History of byte addressing Stephen Fuld <SFuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid> - 2011-06-06 10:49 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing "Andy \"Krazy\" Glew" <andy@SPAM.comp-arch.net> - 2011-06-06 22:42 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2011-06-07 07:37 -0400
                Re: History of byte addressing Stephen Fuld <SFuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid> - 2011-06-07 08:22 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing "Andy \"Krazy\" Glew" <andy@SPAM.comp-arch.net> - 2011-06-11 09:56 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing EricP <ThatWouldBeTelling@thevillage.com> - 2011-06-11 14:59 -0400
                Re: History of byte addressing Louis Krupp <lkrupp@nospam.indra.com.invalid> - 2011-06-11 18:52 -0600
                Re: History of byte addressing "Andy \"Krazy\" Glew" <andy@SPAM.comp-arch.net> - 2011-06-12 12:40 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2011-06-11 15:05 -0400
                Re: History of byte addressing Louis Krupp <lkrupp@nospam.indra.com.invalid> - 2011-06-06 13:10 -0600
                Re: History of byte addressing George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2011-06-06 16:41 -0400
                Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-06 18:13 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing Louis Krupp <lkrupp@nospam.indra.com.invalid> - 2011-06-06 23:50 -0600
                Re: History of byte addressing Jim Haynes <jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu> - 2011-06-07 10:01 -0500
                Re: History of byte addressing Louis Krupp <lkrupp@nospam.indra.com.invalid> - 2011-06-07 13:09 -0600
                Re: History of byte addressing Louis Krupp <lkrupp@nospam.indra.com.invalid> - 2011-06-07 14:03 -0600
                Re: History of byte addressing Louis Krupp <lkrupp@nospam.indra.com.invalid> - 2011-06-06 05:16 -0600
        Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-05 10:44 -0700
        Re: History of byte addressing John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> - 2011-06-06 05:00 +0000
          Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-05 22:11 -0700
            Re: History of byte addressing nmm1@cam.ac.uk - 2011-06-06 08:00 +0100
              Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-06 18:16 -0700
            Re: History of byte addressing Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-06 01:01 -0700
              Re: History of byte addressing nmm1@cam.ac.uk - 2011-06-06 08:30 +0100
                Re: History of byte addressing Terje Mathisen <"terje.mathisen at tmsw.no"> - 2011-06-06 10:34 +0200
                Re: History of byte addressing Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-06 03:29 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing Terje Mathisen <"terje.mathisen at tmsw.no"> - 2011-06-06 15:21 +0200
                Re: History of byte addressing Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2011-06-06 03:23 -0700
                Re: History of byte addressing MitchAlsup <MitchAlsup@aol.com> - 2011-06-07 08:01 -0700
                Re: alignment, was History of byte addressing John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> - 2011-06-06 18:33 +0000
                Re: alignment, was History of byte addressing nmm1@cam.ac.uk - 2011-06-06 19:30 +0100
                Re: alignment, was History of byte addressing Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2011-06-06 15:32 -0400
              Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-06 18:11 -0700
          Re: History of byte addressing Robert Myers <rbmyersusa@gmail.com> - 2011-06-06 06:48 -0700
            Re: History of byte addressing jsavard@excxn.aNOSPAMb.cdn.invalid (John Savard) - 2011-07-03 16:13 +0000
        Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-07-03 09:10 -0700
  Re: History of byte addressing "Skybuck Flying" <Windows7IsOK@DreamPC2006.com> - 2011-06-07 16:23 +0200
    Re: History of byte addressing Stephen Fuld <SFuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid> - 2011-06-07 08:26 -0700
  Re: History of byte addressing "Skybuck Flying" <Windows7IsOK@DreamPC2006.com> - 2011-06-07 16:25 +0200
    Re: History of byte addressing "Skybuck Flying" <Windows7IsOK@DreamPC2006.com> - 2011-06-07 16:45 +0200
      Re: History of byte addressing "Skybuck Flying" <Windows7IsOK@DreamPC2006.com> - 2011-06-07 16:48 +0200
      Re: History of byte addressing "Skybuck Flying" <Windows7IsOK@DreamPC2006.com> - 2011-06-07 16:59 +0200
        Re: History of byte addressing "Skybuck Flying" <Windows7IsOK@DreamPC2006.com> - 2011-06-07 17:05 +0200
  Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-06-18 15:43 -0700
  Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-07-04 03:14 -0700
    Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-07-04 03:40 -0700
      Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-07-04 04:28 -0700
        Re: History of byte addressing nmm1@cam.ac.uk - 2011-07-04 13:38 +0100
          Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-07-04 06:47 -0700
            Re: History of byte addressing nmm1@cam.ac.uk - 2011-07-04 14:16 +0100
        Re: History of byte addressing Bill Findlay <yaldnif.w@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2011-07-04 15:53 +0100
      Re: History of byte addressing Bill Findlay <yaldnif.w@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2011-07-04 15:36 +0100
        Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-07-04 07:50 -0700
          Re: History of byte addressing John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> - 2011-07-04 19:46 +0000
            Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-07-04 15:29 -0700
              Re: History of byte addressing Bill Findlay <yaldnif.w@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2011-07-05 00:02 +0100
      Re: History of byte addressing Bill Findlay <yaldnif.w@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2011-07-04 15:47 +0100
        Re: History of byte addressing Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2011-07-04 07:54 -0700

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